Lecture “Nachhaltige Entwicklung I – Grundlagen nachhaltigen Wirtschaftens” (“Sustainable Development I – Essentials of Sustainable Economics”)

Lecturers: Fritz Hinterberger (FH), Lisa Bohunovsky (LB), and Stephan Lutter (SL).
The lecture takes place Thursdays from 11:45 to 13:30.

Topics of the lecture “Nachhaltige Entwicklung I”:

Introduction

• Non-Sustainable Trends and History of Sustainability (FH, October 6)

More to come.

This entry is only available in Deutsch.

Sustainable development is a fundamentally democratic concern – it can only be achieved if all parts of society make their contribution. To enable this participation, it is important to use adequate ways of communication to reach the designated target groups. Reading this article will give you insights into the challenges of communicating sustainability and into SERI’s contribution. You find the full article here.

Sustainable development is increasingly dependent on ideas rather than information. This means that empirical data is often not enough on our way to a sustainable society. Year after year, scientific research creates thousands of pages of environmental data supporting the assumption that our current western lifestyles have reached a level of resource and energy consumption that is far too high for the planet earth to sustain in the long run. But what’s the use of this vast heap of information if there is hardly anyone taking interest in it, let alone who really understands it?

To understand, means …
… to perceive the intended meaning and significance of something said, AND
… to interpret something in a particular way

(Compact Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press 2004)

There might be two reasons why the aspired revolution of behaviour change has not yet arrived: 1) The meaning and the significance of the environmental, social and economic information is not yet clear enough to the broad public, and 2) it is therefore interpreted in different ways that don’t necessarily support a change towards a more sustainable policy, management and lifestyle. Information has no power if it is not understood –  the other side of this medal shows that good communication has the potential to empower people.

Channels of communication
The findings of psychology of the last three decades have shown us that successful learning requires an approach which is oriented on the entire human being. This holistic, action-oriented approach of knowledge transfer is a very successful method since we know that people usually remember only 30% of what they read or see, while a combination of the perceptual channels seeing and hearing increases the level to 50%. Finally, the percentage of remembering rises up to 90% if people get to experience things themselves, by actively involving all their senses and bodies. Taking these findings into account means that good communication always follows more than one track and involves opportunities of practical application.

Levels of communication
Sustainable development is a fundamentally democratic concern – only if all parts of society make their contribution it will be achieved. Politics can provide for the legal frameworks; the economy has to reconsider its basic assumptions about the self regulation of the market and its social and environmental implications. We, the individual citizens and consumers, have to critically reflect on our daily decisions of consumption. Change can only happen if it is all-directional – top-down and bottom-up. Thus it is important that all of us – be it the president or the preschooler – have the opportuntity of taking part in the relevant communication processes.

Current challenges to SERI’s science communication
So far, research findings have mainly been communicated to a very small section of society – the scientific community and some concerned citizens. Not so much because the studies would not be open to the public – many of them actually are. They are available on websites and in journals, but they don’t speak the language of the people. Especially when it comes to communicating sustainability, a concept that can only be filled with life through its application within our individual day by days, there are two points essential which have been mentioned earlier: Significance and interpretation. What do those research findings mean for my own life? Do I interpret them in a way that would lead me to change parts of my behaviour?

Today’s challenge is to widen the communication channels that we are used to as researchers by taking into account other groups of society as well – lay persons, children, teenagers, people with different ethnic backgrounds, old people, people who seemingly have no interest in environmental research at all, etc. We have to meet them were they actually are – using various techniques of communicating not information, but ideas.

All this is a challenge for our work, since communication is more than just part of the company name of the SERI sustainability research and communication GmbH. From 2011 on, we employ a dedicated working group dealing with this challenge. Every week, SERI produces countless pages of reports, articles and other papers meant for publication, but much of this work is specifically produced for certain purposes and often commissioned by particular organisations. Often, communication to a broader audience is part of the deal.

This approach requires new skills additional to our various research-related qualifications. SERI currently works on developing these skills.

SERIs contribution

Highlight
Every 6-8 weeks, SERI features one of its focal points in a condensed text. Readers can learn more about the conceptual backgrounds of our projects and find links with further details.

Infomail
With every new highlight, SERI sends out a new issue of its free infomail to its subscribers. The infomail features latest project news and links to our newest SERI publications which can also be downloaded from the website.

Facebook-Group
„Friends of SERI“ also have the opportunity of following our latest news on FB and starting a conversation with our researchers.

SERI Network
The recently founded non-profit SERI network is a platform for all those who are interested in creating a sustainable future – together and „with our own two hands“. Anyone can become a member and contribute his or her part in the regular personal meetings with our researchers, where current issues of European and global interest are discussed and where there is room for new ideas.

Presentations
SERI researchers regularly give speeches and presentations in various settings, such as, for example, the annual conference of the Belgian Sustainability Council, where Fritz Hinterberger held the keynote speech, or the annual conference of the Austrian Association for Agricultural Economy, where Eva Burger was honored with the Best Presentation Award in 2010.

Read more on the Belgian Sustainability Council here.
Read more on the Austrian Association for Agricultural Economy Award here.

SERI teaches at BOKU
SERI researchers regularly hold courses on sustainable developmnet at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna.

Reports on Sustainability Issues
In 2009, SERI proudly presented its report „Overconsumption? Our use of the world’s natural resources“, which provides a compilation of information on current trends in European and global resource use. It is available in German, English and Spanish.

SERI Briefing Sheets
The SERI working groups regularly present their current scientific work in concise Briefing Sheets of four pages. Find our latest Briefing Sheets here.

SERI at GreenID
Finally, SERI takes part in current international conferences on information design such as GreenID in order to intensify its expertise in communicating sustainability.

Our latest info graphic

Link: http://seri.at/communication/

From June 30th to July 1st, the “GreenID Exchange Forum on Sustainable Information Design” took place in Vienna. A group of information designers, graphic designers, artists, ecodesigners, communication researchers and environmental psychologists from Europe, South America and the US came together in order to discuss the possibilities of information design as a means of spreading knowledge of issues of sustainable development. Information design is a form of communication which is not very common in Austria yet. It aims to create an understanding of complex issues using visual techniques, such as graphic design, illustration or film. Daniela Pock held a presentation “live from our SERI-factory” – on how we communicate issues of sustainability, such as the environmental indicators.

The GreenID exchange forum was organised by the International Institute for Information Design (IIID). It took place in the historical rooms of the Vienna Workshop in the seventh district of Vienna. A further exchange forum is planned for 2013 – by the time, the repeating forums will create an international network of information designers.

Here you can find the presentation of Daniela Pock.

On 1 April 2011 Fritz Hinterberger held the keynote speech at the annual conference of the Belgian Sustainability Council. You can find his Powerpoint slides here.

On 1 April 2011 Fritz Hinterberger held the keynote speech at the annual conference of the Belgian Sustainability Council. You can find his Powerpoint slides here.

Later on, Hinterberger had a comprehensive interview with the Belgian NGO-Magazine MO* which focused on resource efficiency. You can read the whole interview here (unfortunately only in Dutch).

This entry is only available in Deutsch.

This entry is only available in Deutsch.

This entry is only available in Deutsch.

This entry is only available in Deutsch.

This entry is only available in Deutsch.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published its new report SOER2010: The European environment – state and outlook 2010. In the report the EEA is using data from the webpage www.materialflows.net on worldwide resource extraction, maintained and updated by SERI.

The new report by the EEA on the state and outlook of the European environment the EEA (SOER 2010) covers 38 countries and describes the current state of the environment, how we got to that state, what that state might be by 2020, what is being done and what could be done to improve that state.

The SOER 2010 consists of four core elements:

Part A provides a long-term explorative, cross-cutting assessment of key global mega-trends that might have implications for the European environmental policy context, and our ability to manage natural resources in a sustainable manner.

Part B provides Europe-wide assessments of key environmental themes that integrate economic and social driving forces, scan the global impacts of European trends and contribute to an evaluation of policy objectives.

Part C provides country-level assessments of the environmental situation in individual countries, analysing six common issues and describing each country’s unique situation, embedded in a process that follows SEIS principles.

A SOER 2010 Synthesis provides a short assessment primarily based on issues raised in Parts A, B and C and augmented by key findings from other EEA activities, most notably those related to the precautionary principle and green economy.

The annual report 2009 gives an overview of SERI projects, publications and participations of SERI members in conferences.

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Lecture “Nachhaltige Entwicklung I – Grundlagen nachhaltigen Wirtschaftens” (“Sustainable Development I – Essentials of Sustainable Economics”)

Lecturers: Fritz Hinterberger (FH), Lisa Bohunovsky (LB), Stephan Lutter (SL).

The lecture takes place Thursdays from 11:45 to 13:15.

Topics of the lecture “Nachhaltige Entwicklung I” ( slides see  German version):

• Non-Sustainable Trends and History of Sustainability
• Concepts of Sustainable Development and Cross-Linkage of the World
• Measuring and Evaluation of Sustainability
• Sustainability & Resource Use: Global and National Trends
• Sustainability & Resource Use: Trends at the Product Level
• Social Dimension of Sustainability I
• Social Dimension of Sustainability II
• Sustainability and the  Economy
• Sustainability & Growth
  
• Globalization & Sustainable Development
• Sustainability & Growth
• Regulation, Governance, Political Instruments and Measures, Summary, Wrap-Up, Discussion